HEAVEN-RECIPIENTS
When an eagle
is happy in an iron cage, when a sheep is happy in water, when an owl is happy
in the blaze of the noonday sun, when a fish is happy on dry land – then, and
not till then, will I admit that the unsanctified man could be happy in heaven.
J.C. Ryle
Without
holiness on earth we shall never be prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy
place. The Lord of heaven is a holy Being. The angels are holy creatures.
Holiness is written on everything in heaven …How shall we ever be at home and
happy in heaven if we die unholy?
J C. Ryle
Holiness.
The
beginning of the way to heaven, is to feel that we are
on the way to hell.
J.C. Ryle
Matthew Commentary, Chapter 11.
If you cannot
give your heart to God now, how is it possible you could enjoy God’s heaven
hereafter? Heaven is unceasing godliness; it is to be in the presence of God
and His Christ for evermore. God is the light, the food, the air of heaven. It
is an eternal Sabbath. To serve God is heaven’s employment, to talk with God is
heaven’s occupation. Oh, sinners, sinners, could you be happy there? To which
of all the saints would you join yourselves? By whose side would you go and sit
down, with whom of all the prophets and apostles would you love to converse?
Surely it would be a wearisome thing to you; surely you would soon want to go
forth and join your friends outside.
J.C. Ryle
Home
at Last!
I know not
what others may think, but to me it does seem clear that heaven would be a
miserable place to an unholy man. It cannot be otherwise. People may say, in a
vague way, they “hope to go to heaven,” but they do not consider what they
say... We must be heavenly-minded, and have heavenly tastes, in the life that
now is, or else we shall never find ourselves in heaven, in the life to come.
J.C.
Ryle
Suppose An Unholy Man Went To Heaven.
Three texts
in Revelation tell us who and what will be absent in heaven. In 21:4 we see
that no tears of grief, no death or sorrow or pain
will be present. In 21:8 we are assured that no one who is cowardly, lying, or
unbelieving will be present, or murderers, or anything abominable, immoral, or
idolatrous. And, as if to sum up, we are told in 21:27 that nothing unclean
will be allowed to enter.
Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.178. www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
The cost of
food in the kingdom is hunger for the Bread of Life.
John Piper
Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1996, p. 83, used by
permission, www.desiringGOD.org.
If heaven
were by merit, it would never be heaven to me, for if I were in it I should
say, “I am sure I am here by mistake; I am sure this is not my place; I have no
claim to it.” But if it be of grace and not of works, then we may walk into
heaven with boldness.
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermons, 6.354.
If the Lord
should bring a wicked man to heaven, heaven would be hell to him; for he who
loves not grace upon earth will never love it in
heaven.
Christopher Love
Much faith
will yield unto us here our heaven, but any faith, if true, will yield us
heaven hereafter.
Thomas
Brooks
Heaven
excludes nothing more directly than sin; whether original and of nature, or
actual and of behavior. For there enters nothing that
defiles, nor that works abomination, nor that makes a lie. When they are there,
the saints are saints indeed. He that will wash them with His heart-blood, rather
than suffer them to enter unclean, will now perfectly see to that; He who has
undertaken to present them to His Father, “not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, but perfectly holy, and without blemish,” will now most certainly
perform His undertaking.
Richard Baxter
Excerpts
from The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, a classic work first published in 1650.